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Tesla doubters should pay the company a visit. The electric carmaker’s headquarters sits in a sleepy part of the San Francisco Bay area, just off the scenic Junipero Serra Freeway in south Palo Alto. There’s a sense of tranquility in the area – directly across the Interstate 280 are rolling green hills that look serene this time of year, and there’s no shortage of open land and trees. Sharing the same street with Tesla are pens where horses go about their equestrian business.

If the Model S came blasting down that street, it probably wouldn’t spook the horses. A bit farther up the road, in a workshop reminiscent of your buddy’s garage/personal after-hours workspace, Tesla has been laboring on the electric sedans it believes will keep the company viable. The Silicon Valley influence is immediately obvious: Early builds are called Alphas, terminology reminiscent of software coding. They’re about 80 percent of what the Model S vehicles are expected to become, with the remaining 20 percent representing the final fit and finish and other details. All Alphas are built in-house, and Tesla wanted us to see the progress.

Just 20 Model S Alphas will be built, and each copy will serve a different purpose. There will be orange-colored ones for crash testing, and they’ll be bashed extensively from all angles. Computer crash simulations were performed for more than a year before letting the Alphas loose, and low-speed impact tests have already been completed. According to Tesla, the early results were better than expected.

The other Alphas are painted black or white. One black vehicle will be used to monitor the power electronics and firmware, because bugs are an inevitable part of the coding process. Another will be used exclusively to check how the manufacturing process is coming along. As a sign of good faith, Tesla has already invited former New United Motor Manufacturing, Inc. (better recognized as NUMMI) employees to watch and follow Model S assembly. (Tesla bought the Fremont, California, NUMMI factory from Toyota and will assemble the Model S there.)

There’s more. One Model S Alpha will have its HVAC system titillated repeatedly to ensure future occupants are completely comfortable. A white Alpha will function as an interiors car in order to fine-tune the cabin and validate craftsmanship. Yet another will serve as the NVH tester, meaning the engineers will be looking to make the ride as quiet and smooth as possible. Tesla has high hopes and wants to make the Model S an exciting blend of what it perceives to be the best cars out there. The exact vehicle benchmarks weren’t specifically named, but European overtures were felt.

Jerome Guillen, Model S program director, said he already felt sorry for the durability car being built in his immediate presence. This Alpha will be driven an equivalent of 250,000 miles in six months on a test track to inspect hardiness. The track is supposedly littered with potholes and is an unforgiving place to drive for both car and driver. Every nut and bolt, anything that can be fastened down, will be torqued to spec and marked before departure. At the end of its 250,000-mile stint, Tesla will know exactly which pieces came undone.

Though battery-electric cars have earned a bum rap in cold climates, the Model S has already been sent out for winter testing. Tesla stayed mum on the exact locations, but we’d like to invite residents of northern Minnesota and Wisconsin to keep their eyes out for the sleek EV. Tesla chief technical officer JB Straubel said they’d go as far north as possible, so we also ask our Canadian readers close to the border to also look out for said EV.

Then, there’s a dynamics car to tune the suspension and handling. Peter Rawlinson, vice president and chief engineer for vehicle engineering, stressed the importance of the Model S’ aluminum-intensive design, especially when it came to the suspension. Up front, it’s double A-arms on both sides. A multilink rear should help the back end hunker down in the twisty stuff while mixing in a comfortable ride for the daily commute. The flat, floor-mounted battery helps keep the center of gravity low to aid with handling, and thanks to strong, rigid suspension mounts, Tesla was able to use softer bushings (re: smoother ride) without sacrificing road-holding capability.

Following Alpha will be the Beta phase. The Betas will be produced this summer and are supposed to be even more representative of all the materials, processes, and suppliers used during the Model S production process. They’ll be built in waves, and Guillen estimates there will be about 50 Betas running around before the Model S is officially ready. The Betas will be 90 to 95 percent of a production-intent Model S.

Tesla never stops working on the battery and drive technology. During our visit, we took a closer look at the rear subframe assembly, where a set of critical EV components are compacted together. To save space and improve efficiency, the three-phase A/C motor is synced directly to the power electronics module (cables linked the two on the Roadster). Thanks in part to liquid cooling, the assembly is expected to last a very long time while supporting the motor’s output. The electric drive motor is capable of belting out 300 kilowatts and 400 newton-meters. That equates to roughly 402 horsepower and 295 pound-feet of torque in our customary units of measurement. And because of its specific mounting location, more of the car’s weight is kept close to the ground.

The batteries — available in 160-, 230-, and 300-mile variants — will continue to use Tesla’s refined 18560 cell. Tesla says it’s making around 8-percent gains in energy density every year, and the Model S battery density will surpass that of the Roadster. Much of the progress stems from simple fundamental improvements: revising the anodes/cathodes and thinning the separators. Tesla admits it’s a slow process to increase driving range, but states the 18560 cell is still more automotive grade than the laptop form from which it spawned. At its current limit, the 300-mile battery will have 7000 cells; the 160- and 230-mile units will contain fewer.

As promised, the batteries will be swappable, perfect for a future world where quick-swap stations will supplant gas stations. Tesla says its guys can have the battery packs out in a minute, but expect a learning curve. When charging is the only option, the usual suspects are there: household 110/120V, 220/240V, and fast charge 440/480V will all be supported right off the production line. The quick charge will shock the 300-mile battery to within 80 percent of its capacity in 45 minutes, though we understand excessive fast charging would be detrimental to battery health.

As a direct product of this information age, the Model S will likely have some form of datametric recording that can be communicated directly to Tesla, similar to the Carwings system used by the Nissan Leaf. Such info could prove to be crucial in the continued EV movement while extending the bond between the youthful automaker and its reputedly devoted clientele. It sounds like it’d make fair use of the massive 17-inch touch screen affixed to the center stack as well.

We know. In the most ideal terms, electric cars would have the range of your average gas-fueled vehicle and refuel as quickly. But if the 4000 early reservations (at $5000 a pop for a reservation) for the Model S are any indication, there are people willing to keep the EV momentum going and who have more than $57,000 to spend on one before the $7500 federal tax credit when it goes on sale sometime next year. On the business end, Rawlinson believes Tesla’s efficiency and total dedication will eventually enable it to get good cars to the market at a profit.